[holding answer 25 November 2002]: We are currently funding 185,000 full time equivalent teachers for their threshold money, which this year is 2,148. The threshold is point 1 of the upper pay scale.

We have also allocated an extra 90 million this financial year for the costs of promoting teachers to point two of the upper pay scale. Schools are also able to use their general budgets to fund moving teachers to point two should they wish to do so.